First Blue Whale case in Bengaluru; two boys caught playing game

BENGALURU: It's unnerving, and true. The Blue Whale Challenge-a 50-day deadly online game that asks the player to commit suicide in the climax -has entered Bengaluru. In the first reported case yet, two friends hooked to the game are being counselled against playing the game further. The boys, aged 18 and 19, are second-year commerce students of a prominent college in the city. Lecturers nabbed them when the younger boy came to the class late last month, sporting an injured left wrist. Police privy to investigations told TOI the boy's WhatsApp status read 'I'm on the way' with a blue whale as display image. "This raised suspicion among his classmates, who informed their principal. Understanding the severity of the game, authorities approached cops," said Rani Shetty , head of Vanitha Sahayavani. Vanitha Sahayavani at the police commissionerate has formed a special team to counsel children against playing the killer game. The team of counsellors called the 18-year-old boy last week and spoke to him at length. We confirmed that the student was, indeed, playing Blue Whale Challenge after we examined his phone. He, too, admitted to it, showing his wound (which he had inflicted on himself as part of the first task) and a photo of his hand to the game administrator, said Sandhya Rani, the counsellor interacting with the teen. Sheetal Dambal, another member from the team working with the boys, said the student was terrified to attempt the third task of climbing to the roof of a tall building in Bengaluru in the early hours of the day.The task was to be recorded on his phone and sent to the game administrator before receiving the next task.